The focus of Los Altos, a powerhouse group of over thirty women from the La Canada/La Crescenta area, is raising funds to enrich the quality of life at El Nido, a short-term youth residential treatment facility run by Sycamores child and family support center in Pasadena. For three decades, money raised by Los Altos has improved the living experience of the youth at El Nido, funding everything from large-scale capital improvements to social and outdoor adventures and equally important, delivering hands on acts of kindness like no-sew quilts, home-made birthday cupcakes, ice cream socials, personal shopping for Holiday gifts for each young person there and more.
Founded as the city’s first orphanage in 1902, Sycamores now offers a wide range of behavioral health services, from prevention and early intervention to residential treatment, homeless and housing support, foster care and adoption services. It also provides mobile crisis outreach teams, school and educational services, advocacy work, and a Category III Trauma Center for cutting-edge training, research, and psychotherapy services.
The Los Altos group’s main fundraiser is an annual spring boutique wine tasting event for 200 guests complete with a select and unique silent auction of 10+ items. The proceeds of its group experience packages, each valued at $500 or more, go directly to El Nido services, so its success is a critical part of the event.
This year, as Los Altos prepared for “A Taste of The Grape Northwest,” Event Co-Chair Cindy Bengtson approached Jericho Road Pasadena for help. She needed a skilled volunteer graphic designer whose work would attract bidders to the auction with an “wow” eye-catching digital display sign for each item, not the usual 8 ½ X 11 description in a plastic frame.
JRP came back with a platinum-level answer: British-born, Pasadena-based James A. Faulkner, a distinguished graphic designer and art director with a long Emmy-winning career in entertainment. James always welcomes worthwhile pro bono projects, and he and Cindy clicked from the outset. “James was marvelously creative, professional, friendly and super-responsive,” Cindy says. “Working with Cindy was great, the best client ever,” says James. Their exceptional synergy can be seen in the results.
The auction raised almost $10,000 and the event netted $50,000. James’ artwork received on-going compliments and accolades!
Thanks to volunteer Linda Taubenreuther for writing JRP social media posts!